Two miles above Ferry Hill the _Snowbird_ was scarcely a quarter of a mile ahead. She was starting on a long reach which, if all went well with her, would be the last but one to bring her to the line. The _Boreas_ was on the opposite side of the river and as she swung across on a new tack it was evident that Dick was ready for any hazard. Chub found himself in danger of rolling off onto the ice, while Dick seemed every moment about to topple down upon him. The _Boreas_ was like a boy standing on one leg and kicking the other into the air. Then another change of course and it was Chub’s turn to go up. There were moments when he vowed that if he reached home safely he would never trust himself again on an ice-boat with Dick Somes. But they were gaining every moment now and the quarter-mile lead was down to an eighth. Suddenly Chub, who was peering ahead at the _Snowbird_, gave an exclamation of surprise. The _Snowbird_, then in mid-stream, had suddenly left her tack and had headed again toward the east shore.
“Ice-crack!” shouted Dick in explanation. “I saw it when we came up.”
“Better change your course then,” said Chub anxiously. But Dick only shook his head. That the _Snowbird_ had decided to go around it and so give him a good chance of winning was no reason why he should follow suit. The _Boreas_ held her course. Chub glanced in alarm at the calm, set face beside him and something he saw there quieted his fears. He looked forward. Ahead, rushing toward them, was a black fissure, an ice-crack which extended for over a hundred yards almost directly across the ice. How wide it was Chub had no idea. Nor did he have time for much speculation, for:
“_Hold for all you’re worth, Chub!_” cried Dick.
[Illustration: “A half-mile away was the finish line”]
Then a twelve-foot expanse of water and broken ice swept up to them, Dick eased the helm until the boat was at right angles to the crack and the fore runners struck the slightly raised edge of the fissure at the same instant. Chub closed his eyes and held on convulsively. The _Boreas_ rose bodily in the air, there was a momentary sensation of being swept through space, and then the runners clanged down upon the ice with a soft jar and the _Boreas_ was tearing along toward the finish, having taken the gap with a twenty-foot leap as a hunter takes a fence!